If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Thursday, July 18, 2024, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for July 18, NYT Connections #403! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game.
If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle
Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:
Yellow category - Somewhere you might go for some fresh air.
Green category - Words you might hear in a Rocky movie, for example.
Blue category - If someone wore a lot of fancy clothes or had a posh way of speaking, you might use these words to describe them.
Purple category - Symbols for when words alone won’t convey the message.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!
We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)
A heads up about the tricky parts
RITZ and PLAZA do not belong to a hotels category.
SPARKLES and FLASH don’t go together.
COURT and MATCH are words that might make you think of tennis, but they don’t go together.
SQUARE and ROUND don’t go together, either.
What are the categories in today’s Connections?
Yellow: OPEN SPACE
Green: BOXING UNIT
Blue: GLITZINESS
Purple: EMOJI
DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW
Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.
What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?
The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is OPEN SPACE and the words are: COURT, PLAZA, SQUARE, YARD.
What are the green words in today’s Connections?
The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is BOXING UNIT and the words are: BOUT, CONTEST, MATCH, ROUND.
What are the blue words in today’s Connections?
The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is GLITZINESS and the words are: DAZZLE, FLASH, POMP, RITZ.
What are the purple words in today’s Connections?
The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is EMOJI and the words are: FIRE, HEART, SKULL, SPARKLES.
How I solved today’s Connections
PLAZA and RITZ could be referring to the fancy hotel brands, but the placement of them side-by-side makes me think it’s an intentional mislead.
HEART and SQUARE look like they could be referring to shapes of … something. Those could go with ROUND and maybe SKULL? That feels like a stretch, so let’s keep looking.
FLASH and FIRE make me think of the phrases “flash sale” and “fire sale,” so maybe we have a fill-in-the-blank category. YARD would also fit that, but I don’t see a fourth just yet.
OK, it looks like FLASH, RITZ, DAZZLE, and POMP fit best, because all are words referring to frivolousness or aesthetic flourishes. 🟦
Maybe PLAZA, SQUARE, COURT, and YARD go together as words referring to outdoor public spaces. 🟨
Based on what’s left, I think ROUND, MATCH, BOUT, and CONTEST probably go together as words referring to a competition or sport. 🟩 Ah, boxing terms. Got it.
That leaves SPARKLES, SKULL, FIRE, and HEART—all examples of emojis, maybe? 🟪 Yay.
Connections Puzzle #403 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪
How to play Connections
I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:
First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Games app (formerly the Crossword app). You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).
Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.
You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.
How to win Connections
The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.
If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.
Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!